If you’ve been following the D’Angelos from the amazing series by bestselling author Catherine Bybee, then her latest, Maybe One Day, will feature the heart and matriarch of the family, Mari D’Angelo. She is long overdue for the next chapter of her life. After raising her family, it’s time for her to live again. At front and center, we experience a mother rediscovering her femininity, taking a chance to choose to love again and redefining her life beyond the expectations of familial obligations.

If you are a woman over 50, who thought your life was over, all you need is the right person to bring out a new vibrancy to spark the next chapter of your life. Mari D’Angelo is a heroine you can’t help but fall in love with. She is a strong, devoted mother and grandmother, and a hardworking business woman that has built a wonderful life for her family after the death of her late husband. In terms of love, there wasn’t a second thought about it being considered part of her life again. When her best friend Rosa suggested a singles cruise, little did she know her second chance would sail into her life, resuscitating a vibrancy that ignited a spark waiting to be relit.

When James enters her life, it’s undeniable how unexpectedly perfect they are together. That spark, going from dim to light, captures a tender, mature real connection that is refreshing and honest. Their union is a blend of the rediscovery of the beginning of falling in love with the vulnerability of starting over in a place of life where so many don’t believe it will ever happen again. Or simply just don’t believe they can.

There are a few things that stand out in the book for me that I feel many of you will relate to. You have Mari’s loyalty to her late husband, her fear of disappointing her adult children, and whether real love can develop as she navigates her internal conflict. That’s why you will love James. He’s patient, understanding and his devotion to her enables him to be in the trenches with her because he sees not only someone special but worth waiting for. Their relationship, a slow-burn but magical, beautiful and a purity that you just can’t help but root for them.

There’s another moment that I absolutely loved. When they first kiss, and as she feels youthful again, James finds the joy of her rediscovering herself as a woman. This moment was so profound because it paralleled the perception that Luca had confronted her about why she wanted a relationship, weren’t they enough for her just being their mother and grandmother. No, Mari wasn’t just a mother and a grandmother, she was a woman. A woman who lived her life and fulfilled her obligations as a mother but was entitled to reclaim her identity as a beautiful woman who deserved to be loved and taken care of also.

Maybe One Day makes you believe in love all over again. Mari’s story isn’t just about her finding love. It’s about the courage to step beyond the defined role of mother to woman again, healing yourself after moving on from losing the love of your life, the quiet, fulfilled opening of your heart when you thought that part of your life was over. This book was a reminder that it’s never too late for love and that sometimes the best chapters of life are the ones we never expected to write.

Whether you're already hooked on the series or meeting the D’Angelos for the first time, please dive into the series and read them in order. I want your experience for this book to come full circle. I promise you will not regret it and love it more.

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